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Helen Adams Keller is born in Tuscumbia, Alabama.
Helen was born a normal child. She started speaking when she was six months old. By the time she was a year old, she was able to communicate with her parents and she had also learned to walk. -
She fell ill and was struck blind, deaf and mute
When Helen was eighteen months old an illness developed that the doctor described as brain congestion. She ran a high fever for many days, and then the fever was gone. Helen was left deaf and blind from the illness. Helen became a very wild, unruly child. She would scream and kick when she was angry and giggle and laugh when happy. She developed many of her own signals to communicate her needs with her parents. -
Anne Sullivan, a teacher at the institute, came to serve as Helen's teacher.
Perkins Institute for the Blind -
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Helen learned the manual alphabet and the Braile alphabet
Anne Sullivan was with Helen day and night, constantly spelling into her hand the words and ideas of things going on around them. Helen was a quick learner. In only three years she learned the manual alphabet (sign language), the Braille alphabet (an alphabet created by Louis Braille [1809–1852] for the blind that relies on raised dots to communicate), and she could read and write -
One month after her arrival, Sullivan had taught Keller the word "water.
She did this by using her fingers to spell letters into Helen's hand. From this she understood that objects had names, and that her teacher spelled these names into her hand. This unlocked a whole new world of learning for Helen. -
she began taking speech classes at the Horace Mann School for the Deaf in Boston
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Helen attended the Wright-Humason School for the Deaf
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She graduated cum laude from Radcliff College
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She wrote several articles about socialism "Out of the Dark,"
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Anne Sullivan died
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Keller was appointed counselor of international relations for the American Foundation of Overseas Blind
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Keller was appointed counselor of international relations for the American Foundation of Overseas BlindKeller was appointed counselor of international relations for the American Foundation of Overseas Blind
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Keller embarked on the longest and most grueling trip of her life: a 40,000-mile, five-month trek across Asia.
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Keller's autobiography, The Story of My Life, was used as the basis for 1957 television drama The Miracle Worker.
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In 1959, the story was developed into a Broadway play of the same title
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Keller suffered a series of strokes
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Film version of the play
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Women's hall of Fame
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Keller died in her sleep on June 1, 1968, just a few weeks before her 88th birthday.
